'Every knock on the door, we felt something will happen': Karnataka tourists return from J&K

Bengaluru: Karnataka tourists returning from Jammu and Kashmir’s Srinagar wore a look of relief and joy exiting the arrivals terminal at the Kempegowda airport on Thursday afternoon.

The special flight IndiGo 6E 9198 landed at 12 pm, bringing back 178 tourists who had flown to the hill state from Karnataka, along with Labour Minister Santosh Lad and officials.

Many who spoke to DH were to visit Pahalgam either on Wednesday or later this week, but cut short their trip. 

As news of the attack spread, the tourists reported feeling a sense of panic, but were glad to be helped by locals, who took them to safety.

C A Tukaram Rai was part of a 30-member group who availed an IRCTC tour package.

They were about 13 km from the Srinagar airport near a military cantonment, having returned from Gulmarg.

“Our driver Munir told us not to fear and that he will give up his life for us. He tried to instil confidence, saying everything will be fine and helped us when we checked out of the room. It was very touching,” he said. Locals rued the loss of livelihood in the aftermath of the attack, Rai said. 

Ganesh K, associate director at Kyndryl, 38, had travelled to the hill state with his wife and two children on Monday, with the help of a Kashmiri tour operator.

“They (Kashmiris) are very trustworthy people, they are awesome,” he said. 

“We wanted to see snow for the first time. My son still regrets not being able to touch snow,” he said.

His wife Maria, also a software professional, cut in, “He said I don’t want to miss Kashmir. It’s okay if we get killed, but we will go to heaven itself, isn’t it?”

Ganesh, however, acknowledged the fear and stress that gripped the family, recounting the siren sounds outside their hotel. “Every knock on the door. We felt something was going to happen.”

Ramesh Tumbaraguddi, 62, and his wife from Dharwad were part of the same IRCTC tour group. He said Minister Lad, who he knew personally, had offered a lot of confidence to the group.

“He called us as early as 3.30 am on Thursday. He told us to send pictures of our Aadhaar cards and not to go out anywhere. We simply had to reach the airport by 5.30 am,” Tumbaraguddi said.

A group of three women were in Srinagar when they heard the news of the attack, two days into their trip.

Nalini Sundar, a retired bank employee and resident of RT Nagar, said, “I am relieved to be back. We were shopping at a place. Suddenly, my daughter my called me on the phone, asking me if I didn’t know what was happening there, referring to the terror attack,” she said. 

At their hotel, a Kannadiga woman informed them of the state government’s initiative to bring back tourists.

“We were not scared, felt safe. We had a good time over two days. Security was beefed up, there were security personnel every 100 metres,” Nalini said.

Another group of 27 people which left for Srinagar from Bengaluru on April 22 was scheduled to return on April 28.

“Only seven of us returned. The others are staying back, maybe because they feel they are safe and can continue touring. We didn’t want the feeling of insecurity, so we returned. We are glad to be back,” said Veeresh Kumar, a resident of Nayandahalli who runs a saree business in Chickpet.